New U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday will expand congressional delegations in Southwest states, reflecting a widespread population migration over the past decade that further erodes the political might of the Northeast and Midwest.

Fueled by an explosion in its Hispanic population, Texas will add four House seats in the apportionment process — a larger gain than any other state — broadening its delegation to 36 members of the House of Representatives. Over the last decade, the population in the state grew 20.6 percent, the new Census figures showed.

The largest population increase, at 35.1 percent, took place in Nevada, which will pick up one seat. Arizona and Utah — both of which have seen significant population increases over the past decade — also will gain one seat apiece.

A few Southern states will also gain seats. Florida gained two seats and will expand to 27 districts, while Georgia and South Carolina picked up one seat apiece.

The new apportionment figures were revealed by the Census Bureau, which fulfilled its once-in-a-decade mandate to survey residents in order to gauge population migration across the country. As of April 1, 2010, the Census Bureau estimated the U.S. population at 308,745,538 million people — an increase of 9.7 percent from the 2000 Census.

In some states — mostly located in the population-lagging Midwest and Northeast — House lawmakers will face the prospect of seeing their seats disappear as state lawmakers shrink the number of congressional districts.

New York and Ohio, both of which saw population growth of less than 4 percent over the past decade, will both lose two seats. Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan will lose one seat apiece.

A handful of Midwestern states also will lose seats: Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, and Michigan all will shed one district apiece. All saw population growth of well below 10 percent.

Louisiana, which had only a 1.4 percent growth rate, also will lose one seat, bringing its congressional delegation down to 6 seats.

Over the next years, state legislatures and redistricting commissions will use the new figures to take up the remapping pen in redrawing the congressional map for the next decade — an often brutal and partisan process of political survival.